Out and About in Talkeetna

Talkeetna Travel Blog

The day
started really, really slowly.We took
our time getting started and finally headed out to town after lunch.We walked around town a bit, as the vendors
are starting to set up for the “Moose Dropping Festival” and then went out on
the banks of the TalkeetnaRiver for a while.It can be very peaceful out there and if we
are lucky we may get a glimpse of Denali from
the beach.Although the clouds were
still really thick this afternoon so Denali
was not to be seen.

As we
wandered around we came upon the Denali Range Station where those who wish to
climb the mountain must register.They
had a short film about climbing Denali and
showed a memorial that appeared to be in the local cemetery.

So we
found the cemetery and proceeded to look for the memorial.The cemetery is not well kept and there are
some old graves as well as the memorial.One of the graves we discovered was of the gentleman who owned the
trapper cabin in town.

There are
several memorials for lost climbers.Some are for individual climbers and a large board with the names of all
those lost on Denali and other nearby mountains.Often time when a climber is lost, his body
is never recovered as occurred on the 4th of July this year.

We treated
ourselves to dinner out tonight at West Rib Café and Pub, named for one of the
routes climbers can take up the mountain.After dinner we went back out on the beach and watch the arctic terns
flitting around.

Tomorrow
is the big Moose Dropping.By the way,
they do not drop a moose.They drop what
the moose drops.I’m hoping to win
$1,500.